1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technology to improve user-friendliness in image list displaying on a client having a function as a Web browser in a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technologies that cause a list of multiple images to be displayed on a Web browser based on multiple image data are known in the prior art (see JP2000-357169A, for example). Such technologies used to display a list of images are applied in a network system that includes a Web server and a client having a Web browser function.
In such image list display in a network system, when a client issues a request for image list display, a Web server generates an HTML file in which are embedded URLs for multiple image data and sends this HTML file to the client. The client receives and interprets the HTML file and issues requests to obtain the image data specifying the URLs for the image data embedded in the HTML file. When the client performs display processing after receiving the image data sent in response to the requests, a list display page that includes multiple images is displayed on the client.
In image list display in a network system, because requests to obtain all of image data whose URLs are embedded in the HTML file are simultaneously issued from the client, the burden on the network and a server that provides the image data is substantial. As a result, the time required for image list display increases, which reduces user-friendliness.
On the other hand, in image list display in a network system, the multiple images may be distributed among multiple HTML files allocating a prescribed number of images for each HTML file, enabling all images to be displayed by switching pages. In this case, because the image data sought to be obtained by a client at any one time are limited to those allocated to a single HTML file, the burden on the network and the server that provides the image data can be distributed. However, in this case, each time the page is switched on the client, an HTML file and image data are sent and received and the burden on the network is still substantial. As a result, the time required for image list display increases, reducing user-friendliness.